Growing up in the 80's, Nicaragua was famous for only one thing - Sandanistas and the Iran/Contara scandal.

 

Fast forward thirty some odd years, and Nicaragua's reputation as being the place of jungle fueled guerilla warfare, a poverty stricken, tropical disease ridden land hasn't yet receeded from a lot of people's imaginations.

 

For those lucky and brave enough to ignore the nay-sayers, Nicaragua's slow emergence onto the travel scene means that you'll have access to cities filled with authentic local life and empty, gorgeous, sandy beaches. A word to the wise: better get there before everybody else gets the memo.